February 2012

February 29, 2012

The U.S. economic recovery is gathering strength as cheaper natural gas drives business investments and boosts exports, says the CEO of Dow Chemical, which uses large volumes of gas to power its plants and as a raw material for hundreds of products such as polyethylene plastic.

North Dakota's oil production, which has quadrupled since 2005 as a result of the Bakken Shale boom, may have hit an all-time high in January as mild weather and lower-than-normal snowfall allowed drilling to increase.

Chicago's two aging coal-fired power plants, long blamed for illnesses in two largely Hispanic neighborhoods, will shut down several years earlier than expected under a deal announced today by a coalition of environmental, health and community groups.

Despite persistently low natural gas prices and a decline in drilling, production in North Texas' Barnett Shale hit a record high in November, averaging more than 6 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, according to the Powell Shale Digest.

Local governments, bolstered by more than $1 billion from the Barnett Shale over the past four years, are adjusting to diminished windfalls as the lowest natural gas prices in a decade have slowed drilling and reduced royalties.

Fort Worth recently lowered its estimate of income from gas-lease bonuses and royalties by nearly $334 million, or 32 percent, over 25 years.

The headline-making $45 billion leveraged buyout of TXU Corp. came in February 2007. Five years later, the Dallas-based power company, now known as Energy Future Holdings, is reeling from heavy debt and low natural gas prices.

America's most-famous investor, billionaire Warren Buffett, calls his $2 billion investment in EFH bonds "a big mistake" and says it is at risk of losing all its value.

February 28, 2012

Irving-based Exxon Mobil Corp. has disclosed its plans to explore for oil in Iraq's Kurdistan region in the company's annual report, breaking months of silence over the investment that has outraged Baghdad.

Investors in BP Plc say progress toward a settlement with victims of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig disaster, which killed 11 workers and led to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill of 2010, could help shrink the $44 billion plunge in the company's value since then.